Archive for July, 2010

Posing Session #3

Yep….you guessed it….had another posing session today, July 25,2010. This is the third session since I became a Dream Team member. I learn something new every time we get together! For instance, Josh gave me a tip to make my quads pop more by simply extending my leg forward and flexing my foot instead of pointing my toe. Small detail – yes. Better result – yay!

Besides the fact that the Dream Team athletes are just genuinely cool people, it’s AMAZING how each Dream Team athlete is improving in terms of physique. The last posing session was only two weeks ago and the results in that short amount of time are CRAZY GOOD!

Solo Show

Today’s posing session started out as the previous two, Le Ann, Steven, Josh and myself went through the mandatory Body Building poses, while Jim and Daniel coached our form and improved upon our technique. Meanwhile the Figure girls were running through their requirements with Mo.

Then Jim announced that each group was going to run through what they’d been doing another time or two and then each person was going to “Fly Solo”! Oh Boy ;0/ Kinda scary….but in a good way. ;o) Here are some pics to show progress.

To see a little video of the “Solo Flight” go to my Face Book page. ;o) Thanks for CheckinI in Ya’ll!!

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Reci…..What?

When looking at the list of foods I have to choose from on my Fuel Plan, and the allotted portions of each, some might take the perspective that it’s very limited. Being the half-full girl that I am, I look at it as an opportunity for creativity to flourish!! Kinda like “Chopped” on the Food Network….here’s what’s in your “basket” – now go make something SCRUMPTIOUS!! ;o) And – hence the inspiration behind the Sutter Girl term “Recipivity” – the place where Recipe & Creativity collide. ;o) Here’s a couple recipes I’ve created thus far……

Broiled Shrimp Salad

60z of 31-40 count raw shrimp (peeled & de-veined)

Mixed greens (cover plate)

Snow Pea Pods (a few)

Fresh Tomato (sliced into chunks)

McCormick’s Salt-Free Seasonings (Garlic & Herb, Savory All-Purpose)

Filippo Berio Zero Calorie Olive Oil Spritzer

Fresh Lemon (to taste)

Cracked Pepper (to taste)

Plate It!

Second, deal with the shrimp. I buy my shrimp frozen, thaw them out in the refrigerator, rinse them and then pat dry. Then I spray a pan with non-stick cooking spray, lay the shrimp in the pan evenly spaced, spritz them lightly with the olive oil and apply the Garlic & Herb seasoning on half of the quantity of shrimp and the Savory seasoning on the remaining shrimp. Set the oven to broil (high) and pop those suckers in for 3 to 5 minutes….or until opaque. Very quick cook time….be sure to NOT over cook! (Note: grillin’ the shrimp is also an option and just as fast, if not faster!)

Decorate It!

Decorate your salad with the hot broiled shrimp and squeeze fresh lemon all over to finish the dish off right!

Spicy Tuna

1 – 7oz can of Albacore, all white tuna, packed in water

1 Tablespoon of Low Fat Mayonnaise

1 Teaspoon Sriracha Hot Chili Sauce

1 Teaspoon Sriracha Garlic Sauce

Cracked Coarse Black Pepper to taste

The Mix

OKAY, YA’LL! This is a great way to take typical tuna to a level you nevah evah imagined possible!! Crack open the can, drain off that excess ounce of water, throw in the ingredients and mix it up. Can’t get any simplah. ;o) If it’s a meal where you’re allowed a fat in the form of nuts, preferably almonds, take the allotted amount of whole almonds, chop’em up and add’em in! It’ll make your taste buds tingle (well, that could be the hot sauce workin’). It’s an amazing combination of flavah!! Tuna gone Nuts! Who Knew?! ;o)

The Fix

Once I’ve got these precious ingredients all blended up, I throw’em on a big bed of mixed greens and add some chunks of fresh tomato! If, it’s a meal where a carbohydrate is included, then I toast a slice of Ezekiel Sesame bread, put lettuce on it, then Spicy Tuna and top with a thick slice of fresh tomato…YUMMY!

Sriracha Sauces

For those of you who have yet to discover Sriracha Hot Chili Sauce, it’s a Vietnamese product and THE hot sauce of choice for most chefs. The Chili Garlic Sauce is a thicker sauce and just maybe a touch more heat behind the spice.

Note: I actually dip the Broiled / Grilled Shrimp, from the first recipe above, in the Hot Chili Sauce to add a little kick to their tails ;o)

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One Month Mark

Okay…..the first pics posted on “Chisel Challenge” were taken on the Monday of week 2. The following pics were taken on the Monday of week 5. So, this is essentially one month’s worth of progress. 9 Weeks to go until the competition!!

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Re-Boot!

Last week Jim told the Dream Team members training for the September competition that it was time to give our bodies a little sugar. The body can only go for so long being depleted of sugar before it goes into a protection mode and begins to hold on to fat instead of burning it off. So this was kind of a “Re-Boot” of the metabolism.

Re-Feed Meal!!

He was actually giving us all permission to have ONE meal that included some form of simple sugar. His example was a breakfast consisting of an egg white chicken and veggie omelette, pancakes with syrup. I was SO psyched to hear this scenario, because that is one of my favorite things….the omelette that is!! I immediately knew where I’d be goin’ for this mini-celebration….Stax Omega!

(One point of clarification I sought from Jim was this….could I have fruit? And Praise the Lord he said YES!!)

Stax Omega!!

A week later (the end of week 3), I made plans to meet one of my fitness friends, Lisa, at my FAVORITE breakfast spot – Stax Omega! And I knew EXACTLY how this Sunday Brunch was gonna go down. ;0)

My all time favorite IRONMAN omelette, (egg whites, spinach, onions), honey whole wheat toast, stack-o-buttermilk-pancakes with syrup, grits and a bowl of mixed fruit! When the waitress came to take my order I prefaced it by stating that I was gettin’ ready to order a LOT of food ;0) I regret not having brought my camera to document the “tablescape” for it was truly a sight to behold!

In case ya’ll are wonderin’, I did not eat this entire meal, though Lisa said I definitely put a hurtin’ on it! I shared my pancakes with Lisa and broadened her breakfast horizons by talkin’ her into ordering her first IRONMAN omelette!

Recognized!

A comical addition to this episode was the fact that a girl stopped by the table on her way out. She thought she had recalled meeting me at a mutual friend’s house about a year ago. I had seen her as well and recognized her, but had not yet made the connection…I must’ve been distracted being in midst of my sugar stupor. ;0) Anyway….she had to be thinkin’….”Man that girl can put away some food!!”.

All Good Things Must Come to an End…..

Finally, the entire meal was topped off by the fact that I got to meet the creator of the IRONMAN omelette…..the check-out girl!! I gave her a big high-five and props for makin’ the Stax Omega Menu complete! Good Times!

Now – back to FUEL PLAN REALITY! ;0)

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Sissy Squat?

What a fun first half of a beautiful Saturday mornin’! I met up with another Dream Team member, who’s also trainin’ for the Body Building category of the upcoming September 18th competition, Le Ann, to work shoulders and legs. She had showed me this “Sissy Squat” exercise last Sunday at posing practice and I wanted to try it.

I have no idea why they call this move a “Sissy Squat” cause NO sissy would even attempt this exercise! Man -o – Man!! If you didn’t know where your quads were before doing this “Sissy” move, you figured it out the first rep! WOW! Oh….THAT’S why they call it a “Sissy Squat”, cause you’re puttin’ on a hurtin’ the minute you start it! ;o)

Pose, Pose, Pose…

Here’s a few pics from the posing session…..

Note: this is the tail end of week number 3…

The Jockey Lot

Those of you from South Carolina have surely paid a visit to this local icon. It’s a great place to find a bargain on just about anything you may or may not be lookin’ for. ;0) I LOVE the place! Le Ann and I paid a visit to the on site Mexican restaurant for some Chicken, lettuce and tomatoes with salsa. She told me she had actually gone back into the kitchen to see how they cooked the chicken to determine if she and her husband could eat there, while stickin’ to the “Fuel Plan”. The cook showed her that all they did was boil the chicken and use salt free Accent seasoning.

After lunch, we went to the produce stand that Le Ann’s friends run and I bought some fresh yellow squash and okra! You gotta LOVE FRESH SUMMER VEGGIES!!

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Revamped

Another excellent week of trainin’ and squeaky clean eatin’. ;0) I’ve totally revamped my workout routine. When I was in the “Running Mode”, I was meetin’ my running friends at O’Dark Thirty and runnin’ for anywhere between 45 minutes to an hour. Depending on the day, I would then do an hour boot camp class following the run, which incorporated cardio and weight training, or go straight into my weight training. Now it’s the reverse….Weight Trainin’ first and Cardio afterwards, but at a lesser intensity.

Balancing Act

It’s the whole balancing act of losing fat and maintaining muscle. In the first week the scale moved to the left a few pounds from 125 to 122. This week it has continued in that positive direction to just below 120LBs. ;0) I’m NOT a fan of scales, I’ve always preferred to watch how my favorite pair of jeans fit, but it’s a point of reference to test the effectiveness of the Fuel Plan. The fat loss needs to be a gradual deal, so if it’s happening too fast the Fuel Plan needs to be adjusted accordingly.

Happy 4th of July!

Started off the commemorative day of July 4th in a TOTALLY different way than years past. Well, I did get a touch of “Breakfast at Wimbledon” in my traditional fashion, but soon after, I was headed to the gym to meet up with Mo and Jim. Mo and I were training Chest and Arms, one of her final training sessions prior to her big competition next weekend and then we were all headed to the gym where some other Dream Team members workout to practice posing. Another very accomplished Dream Team member, Daniel, also was in the mix – a pleasant surprise.

Pose, Pose, Pose

Posing went much better this week, according to Mo. ;0) I’d been practicing the 1/4 turns throughout the week, so definitely getting a better sense of what’s expected there, but still need some work on the mandatory poses – Front Double Bicep, Back Double Bicep, Side Tricep (Left / Right), Front Lat Spread and Back Lat Spread and Side Chest. And one other is Most Muscular, but I think this is an option to include in the required 1 minute choreographed posing routine. Stating the obvious here, but it’s CRITICAL to nail down the poses, since that’s the key factor by which the judges rate each competitor.

It’s so cool to try new things, get out of my comfort zone and learn about this AWESOME sport. And to spend the time training with good, encouraging, positive, fun people makes it even more worth the effort!